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It took me almost a year to convince Glenn we should build a little house in our backyard. They go by a lot of different names – granny flat, mother-in-law apartment, or accessory dwelling unit, to name a few. Glenn didn’t care what I called it, he just knew it meant strangers living in the […]

I learned a lot of things on a recent weeklong backpacking trip with a bunch of guys… …including the fact that boys like to talk about poop. A lot. Their poop-banter was delightfully juvenile and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I also loved having the opportunity to spend so much quality time in nature with friends […]

The total solar eclipse knocked my socks off. If I’m totally honest, I wasn’t expecting that. I mean…I’ve seen and done some pretty amazing things in my life. This blog is full of tales of those adventures. For better or for worse, at this point I feel like I am hard to impress. I figured […]

Those were the last words I said to my mother as she died. “I cleaned out the fridge, mom.” She passed away almost three months ago – a few days after my post about her going into hospice care and just over a year after my post about her terminal diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. I […]

A little over a year ago I was sitting with my mother during her first chemotherapy treatment for pancreatic cancer. Today, I find myself sitting with my mother again – this time next to what will most likely be her deathbed. As was expected, the chemotherapy treatments eventually stopped working and my mother made […]

“That’s on my bucket list” is a common refrain I’ve used in the past. In reality, I didn’t actually have a list – just a general sense of things I wanted to do if and when I ever got around to it. So, several years ago – long before we began losing weight and getting […]

There is always that one person on most every group travel trip. You know… “the one.” They often exhibit one or more of the following characteristics: An exhausting personality or offensive sense of humor. The embodiment of the crass and entitled (North) American tourist stereotype. Talking your ear off at dinner, all the while complaining about […]

I gained over eleven pounds while we were on our recent around-the-world trip. It honestly would have been a lot more if it hadn’t been for all of our extensive adventuring and activity. You see, Glenn and I were in vacation mode when it came to our food choices during our 6-months of travels. Meaning, […]

I’m sitting next to my mother as she receives her first round of chemotherapy treatment. I can honestly say that as I was flitting around the world on our grand 6-month adventure, a chemotherapy clinic is just about the last place I imagined I’d end up upon my return home. We were in Thailand just a couple […]

For longer than I can remember, my work has had a tradition where fellow staff give lunchtime presentations about their international trips. It’s a fun way to learn about the world and dream up new exotic locations to visit before returning to the email-meeting-email hamster wheel we all seem to find ourselves stuck on. When […]

The instant I touched the wizened cheek of a rescued elephant in Thailand my heart grew tenfold and I knew my soul had been irrevocably changed. I’ve always had a thing for elephants. They pull on my heartstrings like no others. We are often awed by how much elephants are like us humans – their […]

Somewhere along the way Glenn and I lost that sense of awe that comes from traveling. We no longer felt the little tingle in the pit of our stomachs that said “oh wow, look at that” or “huh, this is a new and somewhat uncomfortable situation.” Traveling went from a grand adventure to a little […]

Where has the time gone? We only have a few weeks left in our amazing six-month adventure traveling the world. Both Glenn and I are sad that our trip is coming to an end…but also excited to return to the comforts of home. We spent this past week backpacking the Overland Track in Tasmania. (You […]

I’m trying not to develop a complex, but natural disasters seem to follow us everywhere we go. I feel like our arrival in a new country should be taken as a bad omen as the power of nature will soon befall those in our path. When we arrived in Quito (Ecuador) the nearby volcano Cotopaxi began […]

Kiwis are an endearing lot. The people, not the birds. Although I am sure the birds are nice too. New Zealanders always seem to be happy and positive. I love how they tell you to have a great day and actually mean it. I love that they seem genuinely excited when you give them your […]